When She Smiles
by QueenyLeAcH
Summary: AU: A boy sees girl smile and he wants to see her smile again.


When She Smiles

People don't usually watch other people while they read, and I am no exception. But there was this one day...

I was sitting in class, only paying half attention to the teacher, when I turned my head, and there she was. I knew the girl. She'd been in at least one of my classes since middle school. Her nose was always stuck in a book. She was always quiet, and the teachers all stopped yelling at her eventually about reading in class. (This one was a second runner, so he didn't even bother.)

Normally, she was cold to everyone, talked very little - what did come out was worthy of the ice age - and never, never laughed. However, on the day that I looked back and caught an unintentional glance of her, she was smiling.

No one had seen her smile before. A lot of the students had a running bet going on who could get her to smile first, but none of them succeeded. No. A book made her smile. Plain old black letters on a crisp white page.

She looked pretty when she smiled.

I shook my head and looked away. The action had taken only a few seconds, but it made a lasting impression. I decided that I wanted to see her smile again. thankfully, I'd never put anything on the pot, nor tried to talk to her before, which made me feel slightly better. Though, it didn't do much. I still had to think of how to approach her.

The head on approach wouldn't work. She'd just brush me off. So I started to watch. Not like a creeper, I swear! I didn't have any ill intent toward her, I just wanted to be her friend.

I noticed quickly that she had a new book everyday, and I made it a point to memorize the book's title by the end of the day so I could look it up on Wikipedia. I learned that she lived fantasy best, but also read plenty of historical fiction and science fiction. A few of the books looked so good that I went out and got myself a copy. I never took them to school though, no matter how much it killed me. I had to keep my intentions on the down low.

I also noticed that she sat alone everyday, but tapped on her touch screen phone constantly, the sought after smile hidden just below the surface. What was she doing that made her have that look? Finding out took me a week. I attempted to pass by her once a day and discretely look at her phone in her hand. That didn't work, so I waited till she put it down. I saw a web screen. It was green and white and it read Role Players R Us at the top.

A Google search was useless, so I waited another few days to get the actual url. It took longer that I liked, but I was able to get on the site. Another day of lurking helped me figure out that role-playing was writing the words and actions of a specific set of characters. I couldn't figure out who she was, and parts of the some were off limits to me, so I made an account and chose some characters.

I quickly became hopelessly addicted. I was going on everyday, and I occasionally checked it out during school, but I still didn't know who she was. A lot of the players used nicknames, myself included, and those who revealed their names weren't hers. Then there was the mysterious BountyQueenLily. She was the creator of the role play, and never participated on the chats. She settled disputes quickly and moved on to her writing.

I suspected that QueenLily was her, but I couldn't be sure. Not unless I got her to talk about it, which got me focused back on talking to her as her. I told the RP moderators that I was going on vacation and stopped slacking. I was going to get her to smile. Even if it was just once, I wanted to see her smile again, and who knew if she'd smiled while I was farting around.

"Ed," my sister said one night as I read. "You've been acting strange lately... Reading more. Has something happened?" She was worried that I was withdrawing into a fantasy. Though she read some herself, she preferred nonfiction. So, after a lot of prying, she wiggled my desire out of me.

"I want to see her smile."

Before I knew it, summer had started. During the day I growled town with my earbuds in, hoping to see her, and at night I was looking for signs of her on the other role players. A reference to a book that I knew she read or a complaint about our summer homework.

I didn't notice anything, and the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I didn't really know much about her at all. I realized that I was becoming obsessed, so I logged off the RP for an undecided amount of time and boxed up a few of the books that she inspired me to read. I stopped going into town everyday and spent more time in my backyard.

One day, Mom went into town and dragged me with her. She went into a candle shop that smelled horrible, and I had no desire to do the same. I saw a book shop across the street and made a beeline for it. I gulped in the calming, clearing scent and started browsing the books.

I didn't see the girl till knocked her over.

"Sorry," I said, leaning down. Her hat blocked her face, so I didn't know who the girl was. I gathered her books as she got up. "Airborn" I commented. "Good book. Read it twice myself. You?"

She nodded, and I caught sight of a lock of brown hair.

"What's your favorite part?"

"Kate's entrance onto the ship," she answered. Her voice was uncertain, like she wasn't used to talking with another without a tone of scorn. It sounded somewhat familiar.

I chuckled. "Her governess' reaction was the best."

The girl nodded again. "Belle!" a voice called. She called back and waved me off. I watched her as she left, remembering how impossible it was to get her to say anything. I smiled. She had talked to me! And I knew something else about her. She was either shy, or hurt so bad that she didn't trust anyone, judging by the tone of voice she'd used with me. I wanted it to be the former, but it was most likely the latter.

School couldn't come fast enough, and when it did, I was exited, even though everyone else was cursing the heavens. And lucky, lucky me, she was In my homeroom. Unfortunately, she didn't talk to me, nor I her. It was like the summer and the day at the bookstore never happened. We were back in the same old roles, with the same number of interactions per day. None.

I tried not to, but I noticed that she hung out in the library more often, and always carried around two books and a notepad along with her school supplies. I noticed that she stopped reading in class and listened intently when people started talking around her. It was odd, and I crazily thought that maybe she was looking for someone.

Then it happened.

I don't remember much of it, to be honest. Everything happened so fast. All I remember is the car speeding around the corner, right at Belle, who had a pair of headphones in and was watching the ground for ice. I dashed forward and knocked her away, getting hit instead.

I woke up in the hospital a few days later and heard someone singing. I remember thinking that the singer sounded heavenly and pretended to still be sleeping, just so that I could listen longer. When I opened my eyes, I saw that the singer was a pretty girl with long brown hair and that she had her eyes shut serenely. She continued to sing, not noticing that I was watching her.

When the song ended, I clapped slowly. Her eyes bolted open, revealing a set of rather familiar brown eyes. "Are you all right?" I asked. She nodded silently. "That's good. I'm glad," I replied, smiling.

"Why?" she asked, clenching her hands. "Why would you push me out of the way like that?"

I placed a hand on her trembling fists. "Because I want to see you smile."

"What?"

I blushed, pulling away. "I saw you smile last year, just once, and I decided that I wanted to see it again. You look different when you smile. Less like the Ice Queen and more like Persephone."

A burst of air erupted from her lips. "You just mixed fairy tales with mythology."

"I'm aware, but it's true."

She looked up again, and she smiled."Thank you."

My euphoria halted. "Why are you thanking me? I practically stalked you, trying to figure out how to make you smile, and here all I had to do was save you from a car."

"No," she shook her head. "You just had to have an honest conversation with me."

"At school you seem more like the time to blow me off as soon as I say hi."

"So you were scared?" she replied, smirking.

He thought for a moment. "I guess so."

She was silent for a moment, then stood up. "Thank you," she said, leaning over and pecking him on the cheek. His face took on the shade of a tomato and he started stuttering. She laughed and started walking out. "See you later."

He managed a sound similar to an agreement and went about sorting out his emotions. It was a long and trying process, but when he went back to school, he was confident. She hung back, and he approached her. "Know of a good book?" he asked.

She smiled, and the jaws of every member of their class dropped.

"So who gets the pot?" someone asked. 


End file.
